The Dark Flight Down [Hardcover]

Marcus Sedgwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2005 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

In the morning you should think
You might not last unto the night
In the evening you should think
You might not last unto the morn
Boy has survived the terrors of life with the magician Valerian, dark magic, and deadly chases, but he is still on the run. Now, as the City lies frozen, he is captured and incarcerated in the Emperor Frederick’s palace. Boy is transported to a world of splendor, and wealth beyond his wildest imagining. But beneath its golden veneer, this world is full of madness and cruelty, closely guarded secrets, and terrifying revelations.
In a mesmerizing conclusion to the enthralling story begun in The Book of Dead Days, Boy and Willow are plunged into the heart of it–the furies of the Emperor; the tricks of necromancers; a trail of blood that will lead to the grisly Phantom. Holding all their lives between its pages, The Book of Dead Days waits to deceive its next reader.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9–A teen who doesnt know anything about his past, or even his own name, swirls deeper into mystery against the background of a Vienna-like decaying city. In this creepy but melodramatic sequel to The Book of Dead Days (Random, 2004), Boy is yanked from his previous life of serving the doomed magician Valerian and thrown into the deepest dungeon of the mad Emperor Frederick. The ruler is convinced that the boy possesses the secret of the Book, which foretells the future and might allow the aged Frederick to gain immortality. If Boy will not tell what he knows, he may be thrown to the mysterious Phantom, who dwells in the depths of the palace and drinks the blood of his victims. But Boy is determined to find the Book for himself, to learn his real name and who his parents were, and to be reunited with his sweetheart, Willow. Dark Flight Down, which will perplex most readers who havent read Dead Days, is more than a little theatrical; the characters speak in many shouts and exclamation points, and marvelous secrets are revealed in the denouement. But young teens who have read and enjoyed the previous book might embrace this open-ended conclusion.–Walter Minkel, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. The sequel to The Book of Dead Days (2004) begins where the previous book left off: Boy's master, the magician Valerian, is dead, and the teenager is now in the hands of the scientist Kepler. Many questions remain unanswered. What does Kepler want with Boy? How will Boy's relationship with the orphan girl Willow evolve? And was Valerian really Boy's father? But newer, more dire concerns take hold once Boy becomes the prisoner of the eccentric Emperor Fredrick, who wants to live forever. As in the first book, Sedgwick's writing is gloriously textured, and the plot is intricate, even heart-stopping. But this doesn't stand on its own, and even readers familiar with the previous book will need to have read it recently. In fact, both volumes seem like one book that was uncoupled, with a back story added to the second half. Even so, fans will be enthralled by the twists Sedgwick provides, many of them literal, that lead to a dank dungeon. There is horror down there, but redemption as well. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385746458
• ISBN-13: 978-0385746458
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dance, my dears, dance!, April 11, 2006

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Flight Down (Library Binding)

Marcus Sedgwick follows up his chilling "Book of Dead Days" with a less chilling, but far more compelling sequel, "Dark Flight Down." He left a lot of plot threads untouched at the end of the first book -- especially Boy's past -- but wraps them up as he tells a compelling, sometimes chilling story.

Boy now works for the scientist Kepler, but while running an errand to the Yellow House, he's captured by Imperial soldiers and taken to the palace, where the decaying, mad emperor is waited on by power-hungry courtiers. The emperor wants to be immortal, and his right hand Maxim hopes to use Boy to somehow find the Book of Dead Days.

To make things worse, the bloodthirsty Phantom is still at large -- and Boy soon realizes that it dwells in the palace. Surrounded by treachery and Machievellian lies, Boy's only hope is that his friend Willow will rescue him. But then he learns the horrific truth behind the Phantom and the emperor -- and the connection they have to his past.

There's less magic and more mystery in "Dark Flight Down," compared to its predecessor. The Book of Dead Days only shows up occasionally, and the focus is mostly on Boy's struggles to escape Maxim, and find out his identity. And since the horror is all human, it's even more frightening than demons.

With his sparse prose and icy descriptions, Sedgwick does a remarkable job of wrapping up the story, revealing Boy's mysterious past and the identity of his family. The Phantom's identity is a complete shock, and one that is really horrific. Although Sedgwick does fumble a bit with Bedrich the amnesiac, and Kepler's plotting; these things should have been fleshed out.

Boy himself grows by leaps and bounds here, as he realizes that it's who you are, not your name or parentage, that defines you. Willow is still like a refugee Lloyd Alexander heroine, although she appears less in "Dark Flight Down." And romantics will be pleased by the dark, if pleasing end for this novel.

Wrapping up the story he started in "Book of Dead Days," Marcus Sedgwick crafts a chillingly beautiful, intricate little story, about the boy named Boy. A fitting end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining sequel to THE BOOK OF DEAD DAYS, December 16, 2005

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Flight Down (Library Binding)

Boy doesn't know from where he came, who his parents are, or even his real name. What he does know is that he grew up on the streets, struggling to survive. Then the famous and talented magician, Valerian, took him as his assistant. That relationship wasn't a pleasant one, though, as Boy was used and abused while doing the magician's bidding. When Valerian was tragically killed, Boy didn't miss him exactly but hesitated to mourn the magician. Just before Valerian died, Boy was told that the magician was his father. But is this the truth?

THE DARK FLIGHT DOWN picks up this story a few days after the magician's death. Boy is separated from his good friend, Willow, and is now living with the scientist Kepler. Boy makes plans to run away with Willow and start their lives over, but first he agrees to do an errand for the scientist. He goes back to the magician's home to pick up a lens, but is surprised to find the Emperor's army looting through the house. After claiming to belong there, Boy is tied up and tossed in the wagon with the rest of the magician's belongings and is taken to the Emperor's castle.

Boy is locked in the dungeons of the castle and eventually learns that the old Emperor is obsessed with finding immortality. This is why the Emperor had confiscated the magician's belongings; he thought the magician had in his possession a special book with answers for all things. Little does he know that the book is now in the hands of Kepler.

Meanwhile, Kepler and Willow team up to sneak into the Emperor's castle to try and rescue Boy. But resourceful Boy picks the locks and does some exploring on his own, discovering a well-kept secret hidden in the depths of the dungeons that just may have a connection to Boy's own past.

THE DARK FLIGHT DOWN resolves many of the questions left unanswered in its prequel, THE BOOK OF DEAD DAYS. This is an entertaining story, filled with adventure, mystery, and the shadow of man's inhumanity creeping about in the corners.

--- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dance, my dears, April 11, 2008

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Flight Down (Paperback)

Marcus Sedgwick follows up his chilling "Book of Dead Days" with a less chilling, but far more compelling sequel, "Dark Flight Down." He left a lot of plot threads untouched at the end of the first book -- especially Boy's past -- but wraps them up as he tells a compelling, sometimes chilling story.

Boy now works for the scientist Kepler, but while running an errand to the Yellow House, he's captured by Imperial soldiers and taken to the palace, where the decaying, mad emperor is waited on by power-hungry courtiers. The emperor wants to be immortal, and his right hand Maxim hopes to use Boy to somehow find the Book of Dead Days.

To make things worse, the bloodthirsty Phantom is still at large -- and Boy soon realizes that it dwells in the palace. Surrounded by treachery and Machievellian lies, Boy's only hope is that his friend Willow will rescue him. But then he learns the horrific truth behind the Phantom and the emperor -- and the connection they have to his past.

There's less magic and more mystery in "Dark Flight Down," compared to its predecessor. The Book of Dead Days only shows up occasionally, and the focus is mostly on Boy's struggles to escape Maxim, and find out his identity. And since the horror is all human, it's even more frightening than demons.

With his sparse prose and icy descriptions, Sedgwick does a remarkable job of wrapping up the story, revealing Boy's mysterious past and the identity of his family. The Phantom's identity is a complete shock, and one that is really horrific. Although Sedgwick does fumble a bit with Bedrich the amnesiac, and Kepler's plotting; these things should have been fleshed out.

Boy himself grows by leaps and bounds here, as he realizes that it's who you are, not your true name or parentage, that defines you. Willow is still like a refugee Lloyd Alexander heroine, although she appears somewhat less here. And romantics will be pleased by the dark, if pleasing end for this novel -- the bleakness that has gone before it sort of fades out.

Wrapping up the story he started in "Book of Dead Days," Marcus Sedgwick crafts a chillingly beautiful, intricate little story, about the boy named Boy. A fitting end for the Boy's story